Joni Ernst, Senator for Iowa - GovTrack.us
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Sen. Joni Ernst

Senate Republican Policy Committee Chair and Senator for Iowa

pronounced JOH-nee // ernst

Ernst is the junior senator from Iowa and is a Republican. She has served since Jan 6, 2015. Ernst is next up for reelection in 2026 and serves until Jan 3, 2027. She is 53 years old.

She is also Senate Republican Policy Committee Chair, a party leadership role. Party leaders focus more on setting their party’s legislative priorties than on introducing legislation.

Photo of Sen. Joni Ernst [R-IA]

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2022 Report Card for Ernst.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Ernst is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the Senate positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).

The chart is based on the bills Ernst has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to May 23, 2024. See full analysis methodology.

Committee Membership

Joni Ernst sits on the following committees:

Enacted Legislation

Ernst was the primary sponsor of 15 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

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Does 15 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.

We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Ernst sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Government Operations and Politics (26%) Armed Forces and National Security (16%) Health (12%) Taxation (11%) Commerce (11%) International Affairs (10%) Immigration (8%) Transportation and Public Works (7%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Ernst recently introduced the following legislation:

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Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

As Senate Republican Policy Committee Chair, Ernst may be focused on her responsibilities other than introducing legislation, such as setting the chamber’s agenda, uniting her party, and brokering deals.

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Voting Record

Key Votes

Ernst voted Nay

Bill Defeated 43/53 on Nov 1, 2023.

Ernst voted Yea

Resolution of Ratification Agreed to 69/27 on Sep 21, 2022.

Ernst voted Nay

Ernst voted Yea

Conference Report Agreed to 83/16 on Feb 14, 2019.
This bill, in its final form, funded the parts of the federal government whose funding was to lapse on February 15, 2019. On December 22, …

Ernst voted Yea

Bill Passed 72/26 on Sep 28, 2016.
The Continuing Appropriations and Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017, and Zika Response and Preparedness Act (H.R. 5325) is an appropriations …

Ernst voted Yea

Conference Report Agreed to 83/16 on Dec 3, 2015.
H.R 22, formerly the Hire More Heroes Act, has become the Senate’s vehicle for passage of the Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the …

Missed Votes

From Jan 2015 to May 2024, Ernst missed 59 of 3,292 roll call votes, which is 1.8%. This is better than the median of 2.9% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.

Show the numbers...

Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including: